Saturday, January 8, 2011

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars


















I made these bars for Christmas Eve and I loved them! I love cheesecake and chocolate chip cookies, so this recipe is a perfect combo! It's also simple to make. The original recipe is from Betty Crocker.
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker  chocolate chip cookie mix
1 egg
2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla                              

 Make the cookie dough as directed. Press 2/3 of dough into the bottom of an un-greased 11X7 pan. Beat cream cheese, eggs, sugar and vanilla till smooth. Pour over cookie dough mixture. Drop remaining dough by spoonfuls onto the top of the cream cheese. Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes. Cool and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Chocolate Butterscotch Peanut Clusters

















These peanut clusters were really yummy and incredibly easy to make. You can make them with peanut butter chips in place of the butterscotch chips also. I even think they'd be great with salted peanuts. I found the original recipe here.
Ingredients:
bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
bag of butterscotch chips
2 cups of unsalted roasted peanuts
Directions:
Heat chocolate chips and butterscotch chips together in a double boiler. Once melted, remove from heat and stir in peanuts. Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet covered in wax paper. Cool and remove.